Black Carabiniers

Following recent discussions on Hussars/Dragoons, I have found details of a unit in Prussian service in the SYW.

The "Schwarzer Karabinier von Schaumburg-Lippe"

Wearing Black armour, (including Leather Shoulder & upper arm protection) Black long leather coats under the armour, black helmets with a black bearskin turban.Mounted on Black Horses. They were classified as Light Cavalry, respected by friend & foe alike. The French gave them the nickname the Black Devils from Bückburg.

Their Comander was Johann Kasimir von Monbewitz who was a Pole by birth.

They were well trained & respected horsemen. Taking part in scouting, skirmishing & raiding.

Unfortunatly they were only small in number some 75 riders & about 50 Jager.

Maybe such a unit or it's raising would be interesting for someone who plays in hte Swashbuckler game, technically it is too small to exsist in game, but as a roving band in Swashbuckler it may have some merit.
If anyone can find out any more about this obscure unit I would be interested to hear about them.

I suppose they could be raised in Game as eSc with Cuirass, not sure how that would work in game as the two would seem to be at odds with one another

The Swashbuckler idea is an interesting one! It would also help recreate in game the way some of these small units moved around. I came across a couple of similar small cavalry units for Hanover in SYW who started out in dutch service (for example) who then switched...

I don't think this adds anything but I think it is the same unit?
http://www.kronoskaf.com/syw/index.php?title=B%C3%BCckeburg_Carabiniers

Russian Cuirassier also had Black armour, although the rest of the uniform was white.

I think from memory that the Bavarian Lifeguard had differant uniforms for each troop, or was it maybe squadron, maybe that would be a way of raising these smaller units put them in squadron size units with individual uniform details but organise them into Regiments for game purposes.

Schaumburg-Lippe is a fascinating little country and seems to have maintained a large army for its size (apparently 17,000 inhabitants and yet an army of 1,000+); almost a shame it doesn't really exist in game, would have been a fun army to recreate.

Like Louis I have often faced that problem over the desire to recreate a historical army v creating viable formations. I too have tried the same solution, standardised taticals sizes though in several of the smaller positions I've played, with limited budgets and recruit bases, this doesn't always work-to get a good mix of units in an army I have had to accept small sizes of said units.

The Schaumburg-Lippe army was able to survive because it acted as a mercenary compamy, serving Hanover & Prussia mainly.

The Nassau Regiments also make some nice reading, albeit they ahd a more prominant role in the Napoleonic period.It is also interesting as a table top gamer because you can raise the whole army at not too great a cost.

It is tempting to raise it in game...as a small independent field force...

Going back to the original topic unit. It is too small historically to be raised in game, I wonder though if you did want to do it if once raised as one squadron, could you order half of it to be retrained and re-equipped as a foot force (light infantry) with half remaining mounted? Would be expensive and time consuming but for fun...alternatively raise it as two squadrons and once raised order one squadron re-equipped and retrained to be a foot unit (effectively as an independent light company), just for novelty value?

There are a number of similar size Hanoverian units from the SYW that (recruits allowing) I might attempt to raise in-game so will try out these ideas to see if they work...eventually...

Very interesting... myhaps an idea for me...

maybe rather than being wiped out they would suffer a high Sickness Level or loss of Moral, allowing the "core" unit to be kept, But needing to be brought back to effectivness with new recruits.

I did think that in one game (G7?) Richard had introduced rules that meant a unit could lose men but not be wiped out.

Ahh, ok, maybe it was in G6 or G8 then but I am positive that there was/is a game where Richard does have a rule in place so a unit could lose part of its strength and not its whole.

yes there is they can be resupplied with recruits from your pool I believe

Thanks Km, that's the rule I'm thinking of!